[dropcap]W[/dropcap]e realize that the pricing schedule is complicated because of the exciting array of events we are presenting for you and the variety of packages available. Here are basic rules for writers and general public attendees navigating the event selection and registration for Words & Music.

Writers—Winners of the William Faulkner – William Wisdom Creative Competition are our guests for the festival, including lunches, evening events. The only extras for winners are limited registration workshops and tickets for winner guests.
—Runners-up in our competition are our guests for Writers Tuition Packages but must pay for their own travel, lunches, limited registration workshops, and runner-up guest tickets.
—Other Finalists are eligible for 50% discounts on tuition packages. (Tickets not included in the package are not discounted as pricing is set to allow us to break even on these events.)
—Semi-finalists are eligible for 25% discounts on writer tuition packages. (Tickets not included in the package are not discounted as pricing for these events is set to allow us to break even.)
—Bonafide students with current student IDs or teacher nomination letters are eligible for complimentary discussion passes. Complimentary Discussion Packages do not include manuscript critiques or tickets for any food and wine events or limited registration workshops. There are no discounts for anyone on food and wine events tickets or limited registration workshops.

PackagesWriters Tuition Package Includes all events except Literature & Lunch sessions, After Hours at the Napoleon House, and Faulkner for All. These are separate ticketed events and tickets must be reserved by November 30, 2017. The package includes two manuscript critiques, one with an agent, one with an editor. Those who already have an agent may opt for critiques by two editors.2017 Price for the Package is $375.00 per person.

This package includes:

All Aesthetics of Literature and Master Class sessions.

Theme discussions, except Literature & Lunch sessions.

Poetry sessions and Spiritual Journeys.

How to Read Faulkner and Love it!

All advice sessions for writers, except specified limited registration workshops with hands-on critiques of work submitted in advance.

Agent & Editor critiques and one-on-one consultations(one editor critique and consultation; one agent critique and consultation). Extra Critiques, which are $100 each a la carte for general public, may be purchased by writers with tuition packages for $75.00 per critique. To access guidelines for critiques with agents and editors, Click here.

Writers Alliance meeting with Wine and Nibbles..

High Tea & Cocktails following discussion by bestselling author Walter Isaacson, whose new biography is Leonardo da Vinci, a late afternoon event on

December 7. Walter will be interviewed by another exceptional New Orleans author, fiction writer Karen Essex, an expert in historical fiction, whose novel about the great Renaissance master, Leonardo’s Swans, was a bestseller. This session is our Welcome Party, for 2016.

So Long, Ooh Long! Farewell party, 2:30 to 4:30 p m., Sunday, December 10. Faulkner House. Dessert and Champagne after the final session.

All other events are priced separately and are not included in Writer Tuition Packages. Competition winners and runners-up and judges are our guests for Saturday evening’s Faulkner for All event. There will be a limit on free and discounted tickets as Faulkner for All is the 2017 fundraiser for Words & Music. Advance reservations, therefore, are required, no exceptions. Finalists and semi-finalists may purchase their tickets for $125 each. All others must purchase tickets at the a la carte price of $250 per person. Winners of the competition are our guests for all events, except Limited Registration Workshops, event tickets for their guests, extra manuscript critiques.

GOOD NEWS FOR POETS

And good news poets, this year we are thrilled to be offering the opportunity for poets to have there work critiques by a poetry editor in a position to actually select poetry for publication. She isSarah Cortezof the Texas Review Press, which regularly publishes books of poetry, including the work of Jack Bedell, Louisiana’s new Poet Laureate. Because the news of the winner is late and this opportunity for critiques is new, too, we are giving poets a November 20th deadline for submitting work for critique. The format will be similar to that for prose. Poets will submit in this order, full contact information, maximum one-page introduction to the poems presented and biographical information, then three to five poems with total words for the submission of 3,000 words. A Poetry critique may be selected as a substitute for one of the prose critiques offered in the

The Sponsors/All Events Package
Includes all events of the festival and recognition as a sponsor in the program for the festival. Package includes two critiques. The only things not included in this package or any other package is workshops at $100 each and extra critiques. Writers registering for the Sponsors Package may register for additional critiques as add-ons at $75 per critique. There are no discounts on this package, because of the special events included, except the discount for two people registering together.2017 Price for the Package is $875.00 per person or $1,650.00 for a coupleor $3,200 for fourpersons registering as a group at the same time.

To access guidelines for critiques with agents and editors, Click here.

The Discussions Only Pass
This pass was designed primarily for readers interested in humanities theme and continuing education sessions in literature but unable to participate in food, wine, and entertainment events. We offer the Discussions Only Pass at a discounted rate to spouses of writers registering for the writers tuition package and package is complimentary for members of the Faulkner Society at the Special Friend level. The pass includes all discussions except workshops, master classes, and those discussions occurring at food and wine events. No food and wine events and no manuscript critiques are included in this package.

2017 Price for Discussions Only Pass, $150, General Public

The Single Day Pass Intended primarily for the general reading public, writers with limited time available, may also consider this option. A Single Day Pass includes all events of one-day of the conference, including Literature & Lunch and any late afternoon or evening food and wine event. Those who purchase this option will be given a day pass to show for all events, with the day of the pass on it. The pass does not include limited registration workshops or manuscript critiques.2017 Price for a Single Day Pass Package is $150 per person.

Literature & Lunch PackageThere are four sessions of Literature & Lunch during Words & Music, one each
day, beginning Thursday, December 7. Each luncheon is $60 per person, including
a glass of wine with lunch. Each session begins with a cash bar half hour social hour.
Reservations in advance are required, as the Faulkner Society staff must give its
count for each event 48 hours in advance. Writers and guests of writers must not
show up for a Literature & Lunch session without advance, paid reservations or a
paid Sponsor-All Events Pass. There is a discount for persons purchasing all four
luncheons. There will be a list at the door for each luncheon and only those persons
whose names are on the list or who possess a paid ticket or all-events pass will be admitted.2017 Price for the Literature & Lunch Package: $200 per person.

Only In The Evening PackageThis package is designed for those who cannot be with us except for evening events. It includes the High Tea & Cocktails event with Walter Isaacson, this year’s welcome party (a la carte price $35); the Friday night Jazz After Hours Event (a la carte price $75); and the Faulkner for All gala on Saturday (a la carte price, $250 per person). If purchased as a package there is a discount.2017 Price for Only in the Evening Package, $300.00 per person.

A La Carte Registrations

Individual Discussion, each event, $5.00 per person each event.Discussion Only Pass, $200 per person.Master Class, each event, $25 per person.Literature & Lunch, each session, $60 per person.High Tea & Cocktails, December 7th Welcome Party with Walter Isaacson, $35 per person.Writers Alliance with refreshments, $15 per person.Jazz After Hours, $75 per person, $50 per person registered writers.Faulkner for All, $250 per person, $125 per person finalists and semi-finalists of
Faulkner – Wisdom Competition who are registered with packages.Farewell Party, $35 per person.Extra Manuscript Critiques, $100 per critique, $75 per critique for registered writers.Limited Registration Workshops, $100 per person.Writers Roundtable, $25 per person, not included in writers’ tuition package, included in
sponsor and winner all-event packages.

SPECIAL: Limited registration, Literary Arts Workshops
Workshops with critiques will be limited to 15 people per workshop. Other workshops will take different approaches and will be less restricted in terms of audience. These workshops are not included in the various packages offered by the festival.

What Kind of Fiction do you want to write…and think you actually are writing? This two-hour event will address delineations between literary fiction and mainstream fiction, the essential elements of each, how to successfully achieve these elements, and why a writer might want to select one type of fiction rather than another to pursue. We believe this to be an important subject. After years of looking at work submitted to the Faulkner Society’s literary competition it has become clear to us that many writers have no clear vision of the differences between purely literary fiction with appeal to the most intellectually discerning audiences, literary fiction with mass market appeal, and mass market fiction. Frequently, entries labeled “literary fiction,” are clearly only of “mass market” appeal. This session will be conducted by Pulitzer Prize winning fiction writer Robert Olen Butler, who is arguably the best fiction writer in the country. Bob Butler’s classes at the University of Florida at Tallahassee have produced such notables as Adam Johnson, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winning fiction writer of the novel, The Orphan Master’s Son, and the short fiction collection, Fortune Smiles, who is today himself a highly praised fiction teacher at Stanford University, whose students have included such bestselling authors as T. Geronimo Johnson, author of Hold It ‘Til It Hurts and Welcome to Braggsville. This will be a one hour of instruction with an intense half-our Q. & A. session.

How do I find the right opening for my work of fiction or creative non-fiction?Christine Pride of Simon & Schuster—who is judging this year’s Novel-in-Progress category of the Faulkner-Wisdom Competition and isone of publishing industry’s best literary editors—will conduct this workshop, which will address one of the critical elements to writing successful fiction and creative non-fiction, a strong opening which immediately captures the reader. Most manuscripts submitted for competitions and over-the-transom to publishing houses are rejected because the stories fail to engage the reader in the first half dozen pages. This will be one hour of instruction plus an intense half hour Q. & A. element. Ms. Pride requests that writers signing up for the session do a little bit of homework to make the session more valuable to them. Writers are to select a novel which they believe has a very strong opening and one they believe has a bad opening and be prepared to very briefly summarize both novel and why they either grabbed them right off the bat or failed to do so.Note to Writers: Additional workshops may be posted shortly. Among other subjects under consideration are:

Bringing the Long Dead Back to Vibrant Life: Writing Historical Fiction.

Revealing the Old Verities and Truths of the Heart: Universality of Appeal in Fiction and Narrative Non-fiction

I know that Person: the Art of Narrative Voice and Character Development

2017 Price for each workshop is $100 per person

Deadline for registration for limited registration workshops is November 27, as is the deadline for registering and submitting manuscripts for the one-on-one critique sessions with agents and editors.

Registration

You may register by credit card or check in advance directly with us by printing and completing a registration form and mailing with check or CC info to Words & Music, Faulkner House, 624 Pirate’s Alley, New Orleans, LA 70116. Reservations must be accompanied by a reservations form. Individual discussion only event tickets can be purchased at the door with cash or ordered in advance with credit card or check payment. For credit card reservations add a 5% processing fee.

Refunds, Please note: Full refunds are available on cancellations prior to November 15, 2017. With regard to registration for tuition and sponsorship packages and workshops, please be certain you wish to register, as we are unable to refund for registrations cancelled after November 15. Writers forced to cancel after that date will be given full credit for the amount of their registration toward participation in Words & Music, 2018.

Pricing and other details for any additional events of the conference will be posted as soon as schedules of presenters and other details have been determined.